We lost two people of note this week, but you'd probably only recognize one of their names.

Lady Bird Johnson was 94; Charles Lane was 102.

"What kind of a name is Lady Bird?"
"I don't know, must be a Southern thing."

That was the conversation I remember having with my parents when Lady Bird Johnson suddenly became First Lady that awful day in November, 1963.
Of course, we learned her name was actually Claudia, that Lady Bird was a nickname given by her nanny when she was a child.

And what a tough act she had to follow in Jackie Kennedy.
But while Mrs. Kennedy gained notice for beautifying the White House, Mrs. Johnson had a grander vision. She wanted to beautify all of America.
She was a determined environmentalist who wanted roadside billboards and junkyards replaced with trees and wildflowers. She raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to beautify Washington. The $320 million Highway Beautification Bill, passed in 1965, was known as "The Lady Bird Bill," and she made speeches and lobbied Congress to win its passage.

Lady Bird Johnson was a woman ahead of her time. We should be grateful for her efforts.

And while you probably don't recognize Charles Lane's name, you'd recognize his face.

After all, he has 338 acting credits on IMDb.com, (http://imdb.com) stretching from 1931 until 2006.
In most of them, he played a crotchety skinflint.

He appeared in ten Frank Capra films, including "It's a Wonderful Life." And he was a television staple, appearing on sitcoms ranging from "I Love Lucy" to "Mork and Mindy"...and dramas from "Surfside 6" to "St. Elsewhere."

Charles Lane never got star billing, but he complemented the stars with whom he worked.
He always worked, and even pointed out that he was "available" when he turned 100.

Charles Lane was a man of his time. We should be grateful for his efforts too.

(Material from Associated Press reports was included in this post.)